186 Karl M. Wiegand and Arthur J. Eames 



1. Rumex L. 



a. Leaves neither sagittate nor hastate but occasionally cordate ; flowers perfect or 

 irregularly monoecious. 

 b. Inner sepals crenate, denticulate, or entire. 



c. Grains of the fruiting calyx 0, or 1, or the rudiments of 3; sepals in fruit 



5-6 mm. wide; (leaves undulate, sometimes crisped). 1. R. Paticntia 



c. Grains of the fruiting calyx 3 ; sepals in fruit 5 mm. wide or less. 

 d. Pedicels of nearly uniform thickness, not conspicuously reflexed. 



e. Pedicels jointed one-twentieth to one-tenth their length above the base; 

 leaves lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, not crisped, subentire, pale green 

 and glaucescent. 2. R. mexicanus 



c. Pedicels jointed one-fourth to one-third their length above the base; 

 leaves lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate, or oblong, dark green, not glauces- 

 cent. 

 /. Leaves very large, 5-10 cm. wide, finely erose, scarcely crisped ; pedicels 

 obscurely jointed; plant tall and coarse, 1-2 m. high. 



3. R. Britannica 

 f. Leaves smaller, less than 5 cm. wide, crenate and crisped ; pedicels with 

 tumid joints; plant 0.8-1.6 m. high. 4. R. crispus 



d. Pedicels gradually enlarged upward, jointed at the very base, conspicuously 

 reflexed ; leaves flat, lanceolate and subentire, slightly glaucous. 



5. R. vcrticillatus 

 b. Inner sepals spinulose-dentate or pinnatifid. 



c. Grains of the calyx 1 ; teeth not equaling the width of the sepal body ; lower 

 leaves oblong, the base truncate or cordate. 6. R. obtusifolius 



c. Grains of the calyx 3 ; teeth slender, about equaling the width of the sepal 

 body; lower leaves lanceolate, the base acute. [R. tnaritimus] 



a. Leaves sagittate or hastate ; flowers dioecious. 



b. Sepals enlarged in fruit; plant 3-15 dm. high; leaves sagittate. 



7. R. Acetosa 

 b. Sepals not enlarged in fruit ; plant 1-6 dm. high ; leaves hastate. 



8. R. Acetosella 



1. R. Patientia L. Patience Dock. 



Roadsides and fields, in rich loamy soils ; occasional. June-July. 



Roadside near Coy Glen ; Cayuga St., Giles St., and Ferris Place, Ithaca ; Six 

 Mile Creek (D.) ; Dryden; e. of Levanna; near West Junius (/J.!). 



Newf. to Ont. and Wis., southw. to Conn., Pa., and Kans. Naturalized from 

 Eurasia. 



Very conspicuous and handsome in fruit. 

 f 



2. R. mexicanus Meisn. Pale Dock. 



Waste soil ; rare. Aug.-Sept. 



City dump, lighthouse road, Ithaca, 1921, and C. U. campus near Baker Court, 

 1921 \S. H. Burnham & C. L. Wilson). 



Newf. and Lab. to B. C, southw. to Me., Mich., and Mo., and along the Rocky 

 Mts. to Mex. Introduced in e. U. S. 



3. R. Britannica L. Great Water Dock. 



Marshes and swales, in rich alluvial or mucky soils, usually on a calcareous sub- 

 stratum ; frequent, and locally abundant. Aug.-Sept. 



Summit Marsh and Spencer Lake (D. !); near Caroline Depot; n. of Freeville ; 

 n. e. of McLean station; McLean Bogs (£>.!); Dryden Lake (D.) ; Inlet Marshes 

 (D. !) ; Cayuga Marshes: Botrychium Woods, Spring Lake; "very conspicuous on 

 these [Cayuga Marshes] and Montezuma Marshes in autumn from its large plumes 

 of pink fruit" (D.). 



